On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed a new order that rescinded an Obama-era rule requiring federally-funded infrastructure to follow stricter building standards aimed at reducing flood-related damages. The Obama order also required that federally-funded infrastructure built along the coastline take into account future projections for sea-level rise.

❝ Trump’s order has already prompted swift backlash from across the political spectrum, with everyone from environmental groups to free market think-tanks arguing that there was little upside to rescinding a rule aimed at saving taxpayer money and preventing loss of life in flood-prone areas…

Since the Carter Administration, federal agencies have been required to avoid building in floodplains, but until 2015, there was no requirement that agencies that couldn’t — or wouldn’t — avoid building in flood-prone areas take extra steps to make those buildings resilient…Additionally, federal agencies constructing projects along the coastline were instructed to look at sea-level rise projections for the project’s lifetime, and take those into account when siting and building…

❝ …Flood damage cost Americans more than $260 billion between 1980 and 2013, while federal flood insurance claims averaged nearly $2 billion per year between 2006 and 2015. Since 1998, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has spent almost $50 billion in public grants to help communities recover from federally-declared flood disasters…

Flood insurance requires all private development projects meet the guidelines just erased by Trump. Many local building codes echo national and international standards meant to save lives and ensure that residential and business structures will survive the disasters we’ve already survived – and will confront again.

“Hurricane Harvey: What’s in the path?” (Washington Post 8/25/17) https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/national/harvey/
“It is not hyperbole to say that if the forecast verifies, Texas is about to experience one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the state.” (Governor Greg Abbott)
(NOAA) “…Steering currents will collapse during the weekend, leaving Harvey stranded somewhere near the central Texas coast or perhaps just inland for what could be several days. If anything, model guidance is stronger than ever on the notion that Harvey will stall for the better part of a week. The heaviest 24-hour rainfall in U.S. records is the 42” observed in Alvin, TX (just south of Houston) during slow-moving Tropical Depression Claudette on July 25-26, 1979.”

“Here’s a Scary Reminder: Hurricane Harvey May Be Just the Beginning” (Fortune 8/25/17)http://fortune.com/2017/08/25/hurricane-harvey-storm-predictions/
“…it’s worth remembering that hurricane season is far from over—and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says we could be in for a rough one.
In August, the NOAA upped their prediction for a strong hurricane season, saying that as many as five major Atlantic hurricanes could occur this year. The forecasting group said there was a 60% chance of an above-normal season and warned Southern states to be especially prepared.
The average hurricane season produces 12 named storms. NOAA is expecting between 14 and 19 by the time the 2017 season ends on Nov. 30, with 2 to 5 major storms. And while a hurricane carries winds of 74 mph or more, a major hurricane is classified as one with winds of 111 mph or more.” (Hurricane Harvey, powered by the Gulf of Mexico’s warm waters, made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane at about 9:45 p.m. Friday, earlier than expected. It came ashore just northeast of Corpus Christi, Tex., packing 130 m.p.h. winds.)

8/31/17: “Tropical Storm Irma jumped to a strong Cat 2 hurricane Thursday morning as it continued to rapidly gain power. After intensifying overnight, Irma quickly strengthened through the morning in the east Atlantic and could become a major Cat 3 storm as early as tonight, National Hurricane Center forecasters said. While it remains far from the Florida coast in the east Atlantic, forecasters warned the storm has the potential to continue intensifying into an “extremely dangerous” hurricane with winds of 130 mph as it crosses warm tropical waters and encounters weak wind shear.” http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article170424362.html

“Hurricane Harvey Threatens Largest Flood Insurer: The Government. A federally underwritten program, already roughly $25 billion in debt from earlier storms, faces huge new claims” (Wall Street Journal 8/26/17) https://www.wsj.com/articles/hurricane-harvey-threatens-largest-flood-insurer-1503771686
“Flood insurance splits GOP, spurs bipartisan dealmaking as deadline looms : Dozens of Republicans have fought proposals by the House Financial Services Committee that they say would make flood insurance unaffordable.” (Politico 8/27/17) “LOUISIANA — Coastal state Republicans are bucking members of their own party and teaming up with Democrats as lawmakers struggle to salvage an agreement to keep the National Flood Insurance Program alive.”

Tropical Storm Harvey has dropped more than 11 trillion gallons of water on Texas, triggering catastrophic, unprecedented flooding in the Houston area. There may be no parallel available to any other rainstorm in U.S. history, based on the number of people affected, amount of water involved, and other factors, meteorologists have warned.
Due to its wide geographic scope across America’s 4th-largest city, the ensuing flood disaster may rank as one of the most, if not the most, expensive natural disaster in U.S. history.
Based on information from the National Weather Service (NWS) around 25 trillion gallons may be the final statewide rainfall total for Harvey, which is such a unique storm due to its slow-moving nature that the NWS has nearly run out of superlatives describing it. http://mashable.com/2017/08/27/harvey-dumps-11-trillion-gallons-water-houston-flood/#5y31NIDKQaqn

Harvey dumped an estimated 27 trillion gallons of rain over Texas and Louisiana over six days, according to Ryan Maue of the weather analytics company WeatherBell. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/28/16217626/harvey-houston-flood-water-visualized
Harvey’s total rainfall dwarfs the amount of rain dumped over Louisiana and Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which amounted to 6.56 trillion gallons. Katrina’s flooding resulted from a combination of storm surge and the crumbling of New Orleans levees while Harvey’s was due its having stalled over the coast after making landfall.